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Test your DAC! Free Format Comparison.

Excellent collection of files all taken from the same DXD source file;

http://www.soundliaison.com/all-categories/6-compare-formats 
Which format is best for your DAC?
Every DAC has it’s own character, some sounds better using PCM files and some sounds better using DSD files...... Some people find the convenience of FLAC files more important.
Here on this page is a list containing 2 minutes of a song in 11 different formats.

The song is called ’A Fool For You’ and is performed by Carmen Gomes Inc.
It’s taken from the album ’Carmen Sings The Blues’.

All the different formats have the same source file, DXD 352kHz (Studio Master).
We used the AUL ConverteR 48x44 for the conversion to DSD and Wavelab for the conversion to the other PCM formats and FLAC.

When you compare different sample rates always start with the lowest resolution.
During listening don’t focus too much, hearing is as individual as taste but hearing is also something which can be acquired, like the taste of good wine.

You can choose from the following formats:

1. DXD 352kHz2. PCM 192kHz3. PCM 176kHz4. PCM 96kHz5. PCM 44kHz6. DSD 256
7. DSD 1288. DSD 649 . FLAC 352kHz
10. FLAC 192kHz11. FLAC 96kHz





kefas
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Sorry, George, my Music Server and DAC only do DSD via DoP, but I can hear differences in the DXD vs the PCM 192 wav vs the Flac 352 files. The native DXD file sounds cleaner and blacker with more detail and better image specificity.

If you decide to buy some of these full downloads (good music and very good to excellent sound), keep in mind that all but two jazz titles ("Sings the Blues" (DXD) and "Impromptu" (DSD64)) are native PCM 24/96 and the DSD upsampling/conversion does the sound no favors on these IMO.

I would be curious to read what you (or others) think. You can get the iFi sampler for free using code "ifimicroidac2" in the coupon field on the purchase screen. "A Thousand Shades of Blue" has non-native DSD64 and non-native 96/24 FLAC files (??) to compare and Impromptu has native DSD64 and native 24/96 FLAC files to compare. The differences in level (loudness) between the two "Blue" files makes it challenging to compare, but the true native vs native comparison of Impromptu shows the native DSD to be audibly superior to the native 24/96 FLAC to by ears.

Dave
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Correction to last sentence re: "Impromptu": The native DSD64 file has a blacker background, more detail, with the acoustic bass focused on the neck and the piano "smoother" dynamically & slightly bashful harmonically while the native 192/24 FLAC file portrays the acoustic bass as rounder, with more body, and the piano as more percussive, with more decay. Put a different way, the DSD64 is the "Black Tuxedo" version and the 192/24 FLAC more sportcoat, jeans, and shades.

A matter of preference but neither is subject to being kicked out of bed for eating crackers.

Dave
kefas OP
100 posts
 
Do you hear the same kind of difference on the Carmen Gomes test file, 
DSD64  vs 24/96 ?
kefas OP
100 posts
 
But I do like the comparison '' "Black Tuxedo" version and the 192/24 FLAC more sportcoat, jeans, and shades.''
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